CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Senior forward
Justice Ajogbor posted a double-double on career highs in points (16) and rebounds (13), sophomore forward
Chisom Okpara scored a team-high 20 points, and Harvard University men's basketball topped the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion.
Playing in its regular season home finale on Senior Night, the Crimson (14-10, 5-6 Ivy) held a 41-28 lead at halftime and used a 7-0 run to take a 71-64 lead with 1:42 left after the visiting Quakers (10-16, 2-9 Ivy) tied the score at 64-64 with 5:14 to play. Harvard remains in a tie for fourth place in the Ivy League standings alongside Brown.
Ajogbor posted his third double-double of the season – and second in his last three games – with his 16 points and 13 rebounds, while hitting 6-of-7 field goals and 4-of-4 free throws. Okpara scored 20 or more points for the seventh time this year and added seven boards and three assists. First-year guard
Malik Mack rounded out the Crimson's double-figure scorers with 15 points and a game-high five assists.
As part of Senior Night, the Crimson honored Ajogbor and senior guard
Christian Rich – alongside senior manager Mykalyster Homberg and graduate manager
Ryan Chen – for their hard work and dedication to the program over their careers.
Harvard played in front of a capacity crowd of 1,636 fans at Lavietes Pavilion, marking the program's fifth sellout in its last six home games of the regular season.
Harvard Highlights
- Sophomore forward Chisom Okpara tallied a team-high 20 points, seven rebounds, and three assists, while making 9-of-11 free throws. He scored over 20 points for the seventh time this year and finished in double figures for the 21st time on the season. Okpara led the Crimson in scoring for the 12th time in 2023-24.
- Senior forward Justice Ajogbor registered his third double-double of the season – and second in his last three games – with career highs in points (16) and rebounds (13), while hitting 6-of-7 field goals and 4-of-4 free throws alongside a game-high three blocks. Ajogbor scored in double figures for the sixth time this year, grabbed double-figure rebounds for the fifth time, and tallied three or more blocks for the 10th time.
- First-year guard Malik Mack posted 15 points and a game-high five assists, while converting 11-of-13 free throws. He scored in double figures for the 19th time this year, distributed five or more assists for the 11th time, and matched his career high in free throws made.
- Junior guard Tyler Simon added eight points on 2-of-5 3-pointers and 2-of-2 free throws with six rebounds, junior guard Louis Lesmond scored seven points and hit two triples, and junior guard Denham Wojick chipped in six points on 3-of-5 shooting with two assists.
- Harvard hit 27-of-32 free throws (84.4 percent) in the contest, marking season highs in free throws made and free throw percentage with at least 10 attempts.
- Harvard led for 36:46 in the contest and trailed for just 27 seconds.
Gallery: (2-24-2024) Men's Basketball vs. Penn
How It Happened
- Harvard established a 20-14 lead at the 10:52 mark of the first half as Okpara and Simon each hit two 3-pointers in the opening 10 minutes, and Rich and Ajogbor each made buckets during that opening stretch on senior night.
- The Crimson extended the lead to nine points at 31-22 following a layup from Ajogbor with 5:45 to go in the first half, capping a 5-0 spurt.
- Harvard scored the final five points of the first half – including a buzzer-beating basket from Wojcik – to take a 41-28 edge into the locker room.
- Ajogbor and Mack made the first two field goals of the second half to extend the advantage to 45-28 – its largest – with 18:11 remaining. An 11-0 run from Penn cut the margin to 45-39 at the 16:13 mark.
- Five straight points from Okpara moved the lead to 52-41 with 14:01 left before the Quakers narrowed their deficit to 54-51 with 10:13 to play behind a 10-2 stretch.
- Harvard answered each of Penn's rallies down the stretch as layup from Ajogbor made it 60-57, a pair of free throws from Okpara made it 62-59, and another pair of free throws from Mack moved the lead to 64-62 with 5:23 remaining.
- After Penn tied the score at 64-64 with 5:14 left, Harvard countered with seven straight points to move ahead 71-64 with 1:42 on the clock. Two free throws from Ajogbor, a trey from Lesmond, and a jumper from Mack comprised the stretch.
- Mack and Okpara combined to make 3-of-4 free throws inside the final 30 seconds to seal the win.
Postgame Quotes
- "What an effort by our entire team and what a way to have our seniors wrap up their home careers, playing here for Harvard at Lavietes. I'm so proud of that to be able to start the game the way we did with Christian and Justice obviously being starters." – Tommy Amaker, The Thomas G. Stemberg '71 Family Endowed Coach for Harvard Men's Basketball
- "I thought Justice's play was incredibly inspiring – his length, his shot blocking, his rebounding, his presence in terms of scoring. Even the ones he doesn't block, he's in there." – Coach Amaker
- "There were so many pieces and pockets of inspiring play by our kids." – Coach Amaker
Next Up
Harvard plays its final back-to-back of the season at Brown on Friday, Mar. 1 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+) and at Yale on Saturday, Mar. 2 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+). The Crimson then plays at Dartmouth on Tuesday, Mar. 5 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+) in its regular season finale.
